People - Math Brain Lab

I’m interested in how the Mind/Brain works (Brind? Mrain?). Moderately more specifically, I’m interested in how the Brind/Mrain does math. What are the cognitive and neural precursors that allow children to understand basic numerical and mathematical concepts? What role does culture play? For instance, is education essentially a requirement for most humans to grasp even basic mathematics? If so, then what can psychology and neuroscience tell us about how to improve math education? What can math education tell us about how to improve psychology and neuroscience? Good science needs good questions, and experience suggests that educators tend to ask very good questions. Send us a question, and we’ll see what we can do.

Email: iml30@georgetown.edu

Curriculum Vitae Publications More About Ian

Mike recently defended his PhD under the supervision of Dr. Lyons. Mike is now a postdoctoral researcher in the lab focused primarily on investigating the representation of numbers and mathematics in the brain. He is also interested in understanding how factors such as the learning environment, computational context, and individual differences influence numerical processing. Mike is currently working on projects involving behavioral, eye-tracking, and fMRI data. Outside of research, Mike enjoys hiking with his dog, playing board games, and eating delicious food. Interested in connecting with Mike? Feel free to send him an email!

Email: mss335@georgetown.edu

Cynthia is in the Human Development and Public Policy program under the mentorship of Ian Lyons. She received her Bachelors of Science in Psychological & Brain Sciences, with concentrations in Neuroscience and Computer Science, from Catholic University in 2019. After graduation, she went on to work at the National Institutes of Health where she studied the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation on episodic and procedural memory networks. Cynthia is interested in the functional and structural representations of mathematical learning in the brain, and how these systems translate into behavior and cognition.

Email: cmf302@georgetown.edu

Raeanne joined the Graduate Program in 2021 to work under the mentorship of Ian Lyons. Prior to coming to Georgetown, she earned both her bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science with a focus in cognitive psychology, and her master’s degree in Teaching with a focus in elementary education from the University of Virginia. Her research interests focus on better understanding the role mathematical techniques used in classrooms – from timed activities to hands-on scaffolding measures – play in mathematical performance among young learners.

Email: rnm48@georgetown.edu

Lucas joined the lab as a Research Associate after graduating from Haverford College in 2024, where he studied psychology, data science, and neuroscience and completed his undergraduate thesis on donation as an emotion regulation strategy. Lucas is interested in a variety of cognitive psychology topics and is excited to explore them in the context of numerical processing, math education, and more! Outside of the lab, Lucas can be found trying out a new board game, reading some science fiction, or enjoying the great outdoors.

Email: lm1690@georgetown.edu

Bijan is currently a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and his research interests revolve around mental health interventions (primarily trauma recovery, depression research, and anxiety disorders), although he is currently focused on decision making processes and the interconnections between math anxiety and attentional processes. He is working on projects examining the interrelations between executive functioning and mathematical ability in young children and a study looking at the effects of math anxiety on decision making processes in medicine and finance.